An Audience Response System, also known as clickers, allows instructors to quickly conduct polling and question-and-answer sessions using PowerPoint or other Office applications. Students submit their responses through small hand-held devices, and the results are displayed immediately. Questions can be developed to guide students through class problems, check their understanding, and collect opinions. Through this type of interaction, instructors can increase participation and more effectively engage their class in discussions, activities, and lectures.
Instructions:
- Checkout Equipment: UWB Faculty can checkout a clickers system at Information Technologies - Campus Media Center (Equipment Checkout). The package includes a set of clickers and the receiver which is plugged into a USB port on an ePodium.
- Install TurningPoint Software: UWB uses TurningPoint as its clicker software. Contact the Information Systems Helpdesk to have the TurningPoint application installed on your office Windows or Macintosh computer. The clickers can be used on all campus ePodiums since TurningPoint has been installed on every ePodium. For information on using TurningPoint or ideas on how to successfully integrate this interactive technology into your classroom, contact Andreas Brockhaus. The Turning Technologies website is also a good resource and provides a set of product manuals and user guides.
- Use the Clickers: see the UWB TurningPoint and Clicker Guide for a quick walk-through on how to set up and use the clickers system.
Note: to open a clicker interactive presentation, users must first start TurningPoint and then open the file from within that application. TurningPoint will not start correctly if you have PowerPoint running already or double-click on a presentation file, so make sure you close all PowerPoint windows and follow this method when using clickers.
More Information:
Examples: